The present invention relates generally to audio-visual media broadcasting and advertising. More specifically, the invention relates to transmission systems for distributing point-of-purchase video advertising and related information to stores.
Commercial network television has been recognized as a powerful and efficient medium for broadcasting advertising messages to a large, widely disbursed audience. As a result, network television traditionally has garnered a major share of advertising budgets. However, due to a variety of factors, commercial television advertising revenues have been dropping over the past several years, a trend which is expected to continue. One major drawback of television advertising is network television's ability to do nothing more than deliver a large number of impressions to a large and relatively undifferentiated audience. Advertising dollars are ineffectively spent on messages that reach the wrong audiences under the wrong circumstances. Further, national network television is well suited only for the limited number of product categories which are truly national in scope and relatively impervious to regional and seasonal variation. Moreover, the cost of multiple regional campaigns will often equal or exceed that of a national program.
Point of purchase promotion accomplishes what in-home television cannot, in large part because it is directed not toward passive, unreceptive viewers, but rather toward consumers who are actively making choices and seeking information. Ample evidence demonstrates consumers in a shopping environment are much more susceptible to televised messages than otherwise.
While meeting with substantial success, prior point of purchase advertising systems have met with some limitations. In some cases they are based on a static, print-oriented media comprised of signage or packing labels, with product messages lost in the clutter. On-site demonstrations or educational devices are often prohibitively expensive, take up valuable selling space and are limited to a store by store approach.
One known system of electronic point of purchase advertising utilizes silent electronic dot repeating message signs, similar to reader boards found in major airports and brokerage houses, in the high-traffic aisles of supermarkets. Such silent reader boards, with limited two-dimensional displays, do not have the effectiveness of television in catching and retaining viewer attention.
Another known variation on electronic point-of-purchase advertising utilizes electronic display screens such as liquid crystal displays on individual shopping carts which convey messages to the shopper. Such systems again do not have the effectiveness of television, and further require a great deal of maintenance down-time due to their susceptibility to damage.
Other known systems have used satellite-transmitted television to broadcast advertising into supermarkets. However, such systems are typically based on commercial network programming and have typically located television monitors only at checkout counters. Further, known satellite-based systems do not permit on-line selective customizing of promotional messages.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/926,664, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, and PCT international application No. PCT/US93/07449, also incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, respond to the need for an effective and cost-efficient point-of-purchase promotional medium. These patent applications provide methods and apparatus for distributing and broadcasting a customized video program from a distribution center to a plurality of geographically dispersed receiving sites. These patent applications are pioneering in the field of audiovisual media broadcasting and the advertising field. A unique aspect of these systems are their capability for on-line creation of audio-visual programs customized for individual retail chains, stores, or ultimately aisles within a store, as well as for particular geographic areas and times of day. Unique programs tailored to a particular demographic market are assembled on-line and broadcast simultaneously to a multitude of different locations. This feature eliminates the need for producing separate video programs on separate videotapes for each customized program desired, and requires little or no operational intervention of personnel at the store.